Dead of Night (1977)

Directed
by Dan Curtis

Dead
of Night is horror anthology movie produced and directed
by Dan Curtis, who many horror fans may best remember for his work on
the cult TV shows Dark
Shadows and The
Night Stalker and the 70s cult horror movie Trilogy of Terror.

Dead
of Night never gained the same appreciation as some of
Curtis' other work, but many people who are familiar with the movie
consider the final story "Bobby" to be particularly chilling.

There are three stories in the Dead of Night
anthology and many horror movie fans and reviewers often attribute all
three of them to Richard Matheson. This is not entirely true. The first
story "Second Chance" was actually written by Jack
Finney. Matheson only adapted the story for the movie.

"Second Chance"

Ed Begley Jr. stars as a young man called Frank who
buys an, old Jordan Playboy sports car that has been rusting away in a
barn since it was written-off during an unfortunate encounter with a
train in 1926.

Frank buys the car for $100 and restores it—right
down to the original plates. Then for his inaugural run in the car
Frank decides he will drive to the neighbouring town of Creswell,
taking the Old County Road instead of the highway because it feels more
fitting to drive the old car down the old road it would have probably
travelled so often many years before.

It's a warm summer day and Frank enjoys the drive,
with the breeze blowing through his hair, but the young man soon
notices his is not the only old car on the road and when he finally
arrives at Creswell he discovers as he's was clocking up the miles he
was also winding back the clock and has travelled back to
1926.

It would be hard to class "Second Chance" as a
horror story. It is probably a better fit for the sci-fi genre, but
it's a pretty good tale that could almost have been snatched from The Twilight Zone,
so viewers who love the Twilight
Zone will probably really enjoy this somewhat mismatched
addition to the Dead of
Night anthology.

"No Such Thing
as a Vampire"

The second story is more in keeping with a horror
anthology and there is not a car in sight because "No Such Thing as a
Vampire" is set in a time when horse power was just that, and travel
was fuelled by bags of hay instead of gasoline.

Patrick Macnee stars as Dr Gheria and things are
not well in the Gheria household. The doctor's wife Alexis seems to
have become the food of choice for a vampire and is growing weaker with
each attack. At first Gheria is loath to believe in vampires and is
angered by the way his servants are responding to his wife's illness,
but later he is left with no choice but to seek the assistance of his
friend Michael. By this time Gheria also bears the marks of a vampire
on his neck, all but one of his servants has fled, and the local
villagers are huddling in fear behind their bolted doors.

Fortunately for Gheria, his remaining servant,
Karel, is well-versed in vampire lore and has prior experience of
vampire slaying. Gheria is well aware of this and realizes he can use
his servant's skill to his advantage.

"No Such Thing as a Vampire" is not particularly
exciting vampire story, but it is a pretty clever tale and the twist
ending will probably take many viewers by surprise.

"Bobby"

The best has been saved till the end. "Bobby" is
easily the darkest of the three stories. It surpasses the previous two
stories in every way and is somewhat reminiscent of W. W. Jacobs'
classic tale "The Monkey's Paw".

Joan Hackett stars as grieving mother, Alma, who
cannot come to terms with the death of her young son, who died two
months previously. Her husband is away on business so Alma is
home alone and plans to resurrect her dead son by invoking the help of
supernatural deities. She draws a magic circle on the living room floor
and commands the prince of death to, "Return my son who drowned by
accident!" while a thunder storm rages on the other side of the window
and lightning flashes, illuminating Bobby's portrait hanging on the
wall.

Alma's prayers are answered later that night when
Bobby knocks at the door and asks her to let him in, but the young man
has returned from the grave with a nasty attitude and Alma is soon
playing a dangerous game of hide and seek with her son that may send
her to a grave of her own.

Dead
of Night is a good movie, but it may not be fast-moving
enough for some viewers and may be of more appeal to older viewers, who
were weaned into an appreciation of the horror genre courtesy of Hammer
and Amicus produced movies. It's not a movie that boasts many special
effects, but the stories are strong enough to stand by themselves if
viewers can learn manage without the extra frills and thrills that seem
to have such an inflated importance these days, and the final scenes in
"Bobby" should send many a chill down many a spine for many years to
come.